Providing for public safety/security includes numerous functions such as notifying citizens of a community of health, safety and/or emergency situations, e.g., severe weather alerts, “Amber alerts” for missing children, areas to avoid because of accidents, fires, chemical spills, etc. Current methods used by federal, state and local governmental agencies and emergency services organizations to inform the public of emergency situations are generally based on radio and television broadcasts. Although these methods may reach many of the intended recipients, they also miss a significant number. At any moment, there is a significant portion of the public that is not tuned into these broadcasts. Moreover, if the emergency has caused a power outage in an area, then AC powered televisions and radios are ineffective for delivering the emergency message to persons in the power outage area. Moreover, such notification systems do not provide any method for verifying that an emergency message has been delivered to and received by the intended recipients.
Some communities have civil defense sirens and/or loudspeakers which may be used to alert residents of an emergency situation. However, not all communities have such sirens and/or loudspeakers. Additionally, residents who have heard siren “tests” may become conditioned to and ignore the siren. Further, the use of sirens provides no information regarding the emergency and relies upon individual residents obtaining information from other sources.
Sigma Communications Incorporated of Indianapolis, Ind. (www.reverse911.com) offers communities a proprietary calling system under the trade name REVERSE 911® for notifying residents of emergencies. The REVERSE 911® system allows a community subscribing to the system to utilize the local phone system to call and notify residents of an emergency via a prerecorded phone message. However, if the area's phone system is down, residents may not be timely notified of the emergency. Further, if a resident of a community does not have voice mail and is not in the house to pick up the phone, he or she will not receive the prerecorded notification. Further, residents with cordless phones will not receive the notification if the electrical power is out. Moreover, residents with unlisted numbers will not be contacted. Finally, the REVERSE 911® system relies on phone banks to contact residents with a prerecorded phone message. If there is a need to contact a large number of residents in a wide-spread emergency, the ability to contact all residents in a sufficiently short period of time using phone banks may be problematic.
Another aspect of public safety/security includes responding to emergency calls from the public. In the case where emergency personnel must locate a residence or business that has called for emergency services, e.g., police, fire or emergency medical, current methods used are almost entirely based on the ability of the emergency personnel to view an address displayed on the building where the call originated, e.g., an address displayed on a mail box, on the outside of the building, or on a sign on or near the building. “Hunting” for the building where the request originated slows emergency service response time, which could have significant negative effect on the outcome of the emergency situation.
One prior art attempt to deal with the problem of locating a building (house or business facility) where a call for emergency help originated is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,636,263 to Thompson. The '263 patent discloses an electronic circuit coupled to the phone line of a building and also coupled to a high-intensity stroboscopic LED identification light mounted on or near the building, i.e., on a mailbox in front of the building. The stroboscopic light, when activated, guides emergency personnel to the building where an emergency call originated. The stroboscopic light is activated by the emergency dispatcher via a special tone signal that is transmitted by the dispatcher over the telephone line. Upon receiving the special tone signal, the electronic circuit activates the stroboscopic light.
One shortcoming of the '263 patent is that it depends upon the emergency dispatcher to generate the special tone signal to actuate the light. What is more desirable is that such a light be automatically actuated anytime a call is made from the home or business to emergency services. Another shortcoming of the '263 patent is that it does not provide for transmitting incoming emergency messages to a home or business from governmental agencies.
What is needed is a robust safety/security alert system that includes a central monitor and control station and remote stations suitable for installation in buildings housing residences and businesses for providing safety and/or emergency alerts to users of the system. What is also needed is a safety/security alert system that provides for verification that a user of a remote station has received a safety and/or emergency alert broadcast by the central monitor and control station. What is additionally needed is a safety/alert system that provides a visible display to assist emergency personnel to identify a home or business location where emergency services are required.